5 Years Later
by wilson4ever
Summary: A quick one shot story of Sonny and Ari mainly.
1. Chapter 1

5 Years Later

It was a quiet and warm summer night as Will and Sonny lay in bed fast asleep. Sonny twitches thinking he hears something. He slowly comes out of his state of sleep and hears the noise again. It's a very quiet and quaint whisper, "Daddy...Daddy...". Sonny smiles and turns over to meet 2 big blue eyes looking at him.

"Ari sweetie, what's wrong?"

Ari very quietly whispers, "Daddy, I had a bad dream and now I'm scared. Can I sleep with you and Dad tonight?"

"Jump up here munchkin," Sonny says as he reaches over and pulls her into bed between him and Will.

Ari snuggles up close to Sonny and he wraps an arm around her. He can feel Ari calm down and she asks in whisper, "Daddy, can you tell me story before we go to sleep?"

Sonny pulls her a little tighter to him, "Okay, but we have to be very quiet so we don't wake up Dad. He has to get up really early for work tomorrow."

"Okay."

Sonny begins the story. "Okay, there once was this boy that got to travel all over the place. He had so much fun getting to experience all these different things. Then one day the boy stopped having fun doing that. He wanted to find somebody he could share his life with. So he decided to go back to his home town where his parents lived. He hadn't been back in years. Once he moved back he met up with his cousin so she could introduce him to some of her friends. So they all gathered at the lake one hot summer evening. His cousin..."

Ari interrupts, "Daddy, can we just call her Abigail and everybody else by their real name?"

Sonny giggles quietly, "FINE. So anyway, Abigail introduces me to her friends. So we all sit down on the beach to enjoy some sun, when I hear a voice behind me," Sonny changes his voice to make it really high, "Hey Abigail, I got hung up at the house."

"Daddy!", Ari says loudly, but still in a whisper, "Dad does not sound like that." And then starts to giggle which makes Sonny start to giggle.

Laughing he tries to whisper, "shhhhhh...remember, we don't want to wake Dad up." As they both calm back down.

"Anyway, I turn around to see the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. I'm so nervous to say anything because I was stunned. I couldn't even get my name out. Thank goodness Abigail was there so she could tell your dad what my name was. So after that moment I knew that your dad would change my life forever. You know how I can be nerdy sometimes?"

Ari nods her head and giggles, "All the time." Sonny reaches over and tickles her a little, but still being cautious not to be loud enough to wake Will.

Finally they are settled back down, "I didn't know how to talk to your dad, so every time I would see him, I would act like I accidently ran into him. I even took some classes at school just because he was in them. One day I finally got the courage up to ask him to have dinner and a movie with me. He said yes, much to my relief and that was the beginning of your dad and me. I finally found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and it felt great. I thought at the time, there would be nothing ever happier in my life than that right there. I mean how could anything make me feel better than having found the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with? Right?"

Ari whispered, "Right."

"But you know what?"

"What?"

Sonny whispers, "I was wrong."

"You were wrong?" Ari asks a little concerned.

Sonny says, "Yes. Because the day I delivered you and held you in my arms for the very first time, was when I felt that feeling I always have about your dad, but magnified so much more. So you and dad are the most important people that will ever be in my life. Now lets go to sleep." as he puts a soft kiss on the top of her head. He could feel the smile spread on her face.

Ari, sleepily says, "That is my favorite story. I love you Daddy, goodnight."

And like that, Ari was sound asleep. Sonny puts his arm back around her and pulled her close. Then he felt movement on the bed and then a large arm wraps around him Ari. All he hears is a whisper from Will, "That's my favorite story too."


	2. Chapter 2 - About 4 Years Earlier

Bzzzz….Bzzzz…..Will reaches over to the night stand to retrieve his vibrating phone. He glances at the clock reading 5:51am. "Ugghhh…hello" Will answers half asleep still. He listens intently then, "Are you serious? How many more times are you going to do this to us?"

Sonny rolls over, "Babe, what's going on?"

Will looks over and rolls his eyes, "You know what, don't even bother! We'll figure it out like usual!" Will returns the phone to the night stand and sighs heavily.

"Never mind, I already know," Sonny states. "I'll take Ari with me to the coffee shop again. I have extra staff today and everybody their loves playing with her."

"That's not the point. Gabi is her mother and needs to take some responsibility and spend some time with her daughter. It's not your responsibility."

Sonny crawls out of bed and directs himself to the closet to find his outfit for the day and to start his shower. Before he walks out of the room, he turns to Will, "I understand that Gabi needs to take responsibility sometimes, but I'm really getting tired of you suggesting that Ari isn't my responsibility too. How many times do I have to tell you Will, WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER!"

"Sonny, I didn't mean…" and Sonny was gone and in the bathroom closing the door. Will gets up and sighs yet again. He pulls on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt while pushing his hand through his hair. He heads to kitchen to start some breakfast for him, Sonny and Ari. He slowly opens the door to the nursery and little Ari is in her crib, eyes wide open and giggling. Will reaches down, picks her up, "Hi sweet pea. You ready to start your day? Let's get you into your outfit." As he is dressing Ari, he continues to tickle and play with her. Once he has her ready he loads her diaper bag and double checks to make sure everything is there. He walks back out towards the kitchen with Ari in one arm and the diaper bag in the other. Sonny is in the kitchen finishing breakfast and sits a plate on the table.

"Here, give her to me and I will feed her, there's your breakfast. You have to get going or you'll be late." Will hands Ari over to Sonny and he puts her in her high chair. "Hi baby doll, did Dada get you all ready for the day, huh? Let me grab Dada his OJ and I have your food ready too."

"Sonny, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I don't know what I would do without you. I don't know what Ari would do without you. I understand this is what you want. I will work on myself more."

"It's not that Will. Do you understand how much I love Ari? She is my daughter too now. She has been since the day I delivered her. WE are raising her together, even if her mother rarely sees her. That is her loss, not ours." Sonny mashes up the egg he made Ari and sits in front of her. In his baby talk, he smiles at Ari and says, "Tell Dada he needs to get over himself." Ari giggles and reaches for the spoon as Sonny puts it to her mouth.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Will says as he finishes shoving the rest of his breakfast in his mouth. He reaches over giving Ari a kiss on the head, turns to Sonny and gives him a quick kiss too. "Ari, be good for Dada today."

Sonny can't help but smile, "Thanks for sharing your breakfast with me in that kiss."

Will laughs, walks back over to him and gives him a much bigger and longer kiss. "Thought maybe you wanted seconds," as he turned to the door with a smile and walks out.

Sonny turns his attention back to Ari, "Your Dada can be so much…ugghhh….I just love you both more than I can put in words," as he feeds Ari the last bit of her egg. He cleans her face off and removes her bib. He claps his hands, "you ready to go?" She grunts a little and reach her hands up towards Sonny. He smiles and picks her up and grabs the diaper bag. Ari instantly attaches herself to Sonny and buries her face in his shoulder and neck and just starts mumbling away like she always does. "Before too long, you're going to start saying actual words" he laughed and out the door they went.

As he walked into Common Grounds, he saw that his staff had already set everything up and even started serving customers. He took Ari over to a new section he created a couple of months ago when he started bringing Ari to work with him on a more regular basis. It was just a small section, so that when parents came in with their kids, they could play with some toys while the parents drank their coffee. He put Ari in the swing and wound it up so it would keep swinging. "Now be good munchkin while I work today." Sonny had become an expert on multi-tasking while working. He had no problem playing with Ari throughout the day, changing her, feeding her and putting her down for a nap in the back which he had a play pen set up for her, while still accomplishing his daily duties on the job.

Ari was having a great day, as usual. Sonny had just put her back in the play area after her afternoon nap when Marlena walked in. She instantly walked over and picked Ari up, "How is my beautiful baby girl doing?"

Sonny walked over to say hi, "Can I get you your usual Marlena?"

"That would be nice. Do you mind if I hold Ari while I'm here?"

Sonny laughs, "you know you don't have to ask that? She's your great-granddaughter."

As Sonny is returning with Marlena's coffee, Gabi walks in.

"Sonny, I am so sorry for doing this to you again. I can take her with me now, but I will have to drop her back off in an hour or two, I have another modeling shoot to go to."

"That's fine, but Gabi, you do need to find some time to spend with your daughter. You haven't seen her in over a week and the time before that it was almost two weeks."

Gabi grabbed Ari from Marlena and looked at Sonny, "I know, I'm sorry. I've just been so busy these past couple of months." She turned to leave and says to Ari, "Say bye, bah-bye" as she walks to the door. Ari instantly realizing that she's leaving starts crying and turns herself to Sonny with her arms reaching for him. Then they all freeze when in between her cries and her little arms reaching towards Sonny she utters, "Dada, dada!"

Too be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

**About 4 Years Earlier Continued**

"Dada,dada" Ari cries.

Sonny quickly walks over and takes Ari from Gabi and Ari latches on to Sonny. She puts her head in his neck and shoulder, then stops crying. "It's okay sweetie, I've got you" while rubbing small circles on her back. Nobody was saying anything, just looking at each other. Suddenly the door to Common Grounds opens and Will walks in. He looks over at his grandmother who is wearing a beautiful smile on her face.

"What's going on here?" Will asks.

Sonny finally spoke, almost in tears, "Will, Ari just said her first words!"

"Oh my gosh, what did she say? Are you sure she actually said something?"

Marlena looks over at Will, "Yes she did and it was clear as day what she said."

Gabi chimes in, "She did Will, I was holding her and going to take her with me for a few hours and she didn't want to leave."

"Well, for God's sake, will somebody tell me what she said?" As he walks over to Ari to take her from Sonny. Will had to pry her off of him and she would not let go of Sonny's finger. She looked up to Will's eyes and she smiled.

Her other little hand reaches up and touched Will's face and she said, "Dada". The biggest smile spread across his face. He turned to Sonny, Gabi and Marlena, "Did you hear that? She just said dada! Oh my gosh. What other word did she say?"

"Well, when I was getting ready to take her with me, she didn't want to go. So she started crying and reached for Sonny and said 'dada'. Will, it was amazing." Gabi described.

Will looked Sonny in the eyes and he could see a single tear rolling down his cheek. "Oh babe, come here." Sonny moves closer to Will and Ari and they wrap their arms around each other.

"Snap" they both look over and see Marlena taking a picture of their little family. "This picture is perfect!" she said. "I will send it to you all. This is defiantly one for the memories. I got to get going, but if you need anything, let me know. I feel so lucky to have gotten to witness this."

"Thanks grandma. We love you." They both give her a kiss on the cheek and she's out the door.

Will turns to Gabi, "Can you believe this Gabi? Isn't it great?"

"Will, this is really great, but I feel like I am missing so much of her life. I don't know what to do. I know you and Sonny are great parents and she obviously loves you both more than she loves me. She didn't even want to leave Sonny to spend time with me." Gabi says as she starts to cry.

Sonny steps in front of Gabi and gives her a hug, "Gabi, you know that is not true. Ari loves you just as much as she loves us. She has just spent a lot more time with us. You know you are always welcome to come get her whenever you want. Your career is just getting started to take off. I know how hard it is to juggle a job and a kid. It takes a lot of work, but we are all in this together. The demands of your job are great and you know that we will always take care of our little girl. You're doing the best that you can and you are doing this for her too."

Will walks over with Ari to hand her off, as he needed to go to the restroom. When he holds her out, her little arms automatically drift towards Sonny, "Dada, dada," she says. Will's heart melts for the second time today. He caresses her little head before he heads to the bathroom.

Sonny says, "Ari," while pointing at Gabi, "can you say 'Mama'?" She smiles and buries her face back in his shoulder. Sonny hands her to Gabi and she holds her and sits down at the nearest table. Ari didn't cry this time, but her eyes followed Sonny everywhere he went.

Will comes back out of the bathroom and sits with Gabi and Ari. "So, Gabi, how are things going with the modeling? Are you getting more gigs now?"

"Yes, that is something I wanted to talk to you and Sonny about. My agent just booked me an amazing job offer, but unfortunately it is in LA. I don't know what to do," as she begins to sniffle again. "I can't just leave you guys and Ari. She's my resonsibility too."

"Gabi, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You really need to make this decision on your own. Just know that Sonny and I will support you in whatever you decide. You know Ari will be taken good care of and we can Skype on a daily basis so you don't miss anything."

"Thank you Will. I have a lot to consider. You and Sonny are so amazing. I hope one day I can be as happy as you two."

Will reaches and touches her hand, "Gabi, I have no doubt in my mind that you will be happy someday. You are an incredible person with a big heart. Any guy would be lucky to have you."

Sonny walks back over and hands will a coffee. Ari reaches for him. "Hey sweetie, I wasn't gone that long," as he picks her up and kisses her cheek. "So, Will, I have to stay for a little bit longer, do you want to take Ari home or leave her here?"

"I'll take her with me. Gabi, do you want to come over tonight and have dinner with us? Maybe we can discuss all this more as a family."

Gabi shakes her head and Sonny asks, "Discuss what?"

"I'll feel you in when you get home babe. Please don't stay too late," Will says as he gives Sonny a quick kiss on the lips and heads out the door with Gabi behind him.


End file.
